Pete the Goat Stew

I named this recipe in honor of Pete the Goat of another blog.  When I was researching how to cook goat I ran across a recipe written by someone that owns a farm.  They had a goat named Pete that then fed their family for many many meals.  As the farmer/cook said "Pete is delicious!"

This is the first time I have eaten goat even though it is the most consumed meat on the planet (goats are easy to raise).  And I must agree with the farmer/cook, goat is delicious!  In fact it is my new favorite meat.

It tastes even milder than lamb so it can be easily overpowered by strong flavors, which I found out the hard way.  I added celeriac to the stew and it was too strong.  I recommend staying away from parsnips, turnips and celeriac for this reason. Stick with mild root vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, kohlrabi and mild onions.   If you feel like experimenting, you could add butternut squash or sweet potatoes but for me this would make it too sweet.

 Too add color to this stew buy colored root vegetables.  I had yellow carrots and Adirondack Blue potatoes on hand.  This adds some nice color to what could be a rather beige stew.

Ingredients
serves 3-4

2c Basic Chicken Stock
~2-4c filtered water
1lb goat chops with bones
1 medium red onion
1 clove garlic
1t Celtic or Himalayan salt
~6 peppercorns
1t dried thyme or 1-2 sprigs of fresh
Root veg of choice:
1 large carrot
1-2 leek leaves
1 medium potato
1/2 kohlrabi

1. Peel and cut onion into 1/8ths.  Peel and mash garlic.  Add to stock pot or dutch oven along with meat.
2. Add stock to pot and then use enough water to cover contents with about an inch of liquid.
3. Add peppercorns, salt and thyme.
4. Cover pot and put on low simmer and cook for two hours.
5. Peel and chop root vegetables into bite size pieces.  Add to pot and stir in.  Add more water if needed to cover contents.
6. Cook for another hour at a simmer with lid off.  

Note: This could also be made in a slow cooker.  Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours.

Lamb and Root Vegetable Stew

Yup, my creative juices are flowing!  This is delicious!!  I like it better than beef stew.  It has a milder flavor.  You can also tinker with the meat/veg proportions so that you can make it with as much meat as you prefer.  I find that I only need a few ounces of quality meat to satisfy my appetite and I'm trying to eat way more veg than I used to so this is a great recipe.

Since I am cooking more traditionally, the food isn't really fast anymore but the prep here is minimal and I was done in 15mins or so.  The cooking time is two hours with an intervention at the one hour mark.  You could make it in a slow cooker but I'm not sure how it will effect the taste.

To give credit where credit is due this is based on the lamb stew recipes in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything cookbook.  This is my go to cookbook along with my America's Test Kitchen books.

Ingredients
serves 2-3

1/2 -1 lb lamb stew meat
1 med potato
1 med onion
1/2 kohlrabi
1/2 celeriac
2-3 carrots
1 clove garlic
1 bay leaf
1t dried thyme or 1T fresh
A generous handful of fresh parsley about 1-2c
1t celtic sea salt
generous pinch of pepper
1-2c basic chicken stock or any organic chicken stock
filtered water

1. Peel all veg and cut into large chunks.  Keep potato separate from other veg and rinse everything in fresh water and drain.  Throw potato into pot.  Set aside other veg for later.  If you have something that is going to brown, cover remaining veg with water.
2. Peel and cut onion into 6 pieces and throw in pot.  Peel and mash garlic and throw in pot.
3. Rinse and drain stew meat and add to pot.
4. Add stock and add enough water to cover meat and veg.  Add salt, pepper, dried bay leaf and dried thyme.  If using fresh herbs wait until step 6 to add them.
5. Cover pot and let simmer on low heat for one hour.  Liquid should be just bubbling.  Check once in a while to make sure there is enough liquid still in the pot. Add more water if you like.
6. Add remaining veg (drain first if in water).  Add remaining fresh herbs.  Add more filtered water to just cover everything.  
7. Bring back to a simmer and cover.  Cook for another hour. 

Variations on the theme:

• Throw everything in a slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours until meat is tender.   Veg will probably get a tad mushy.
• Add peas for the last fifteen minutes of cook time.
• Other root veg: parsnips, turnips, beets (use yellow ones or they will make the stew purple and the meat gets nasty looking), sweet potato and radishes.
• Add portabellos cut into large chunks at step 6.

Basic Chicken Stock

This is an easy one.  If you want to do this on the cheap check out the packages of chicken backs on the US Wellness Meats site.  Organic, free range and cheap.  These could also be purchased from a local butcher.  Chicken backs are scrap after they part the chicken out as legs, breasts, etc.  It is just a pain in the ass to pick the meat off the bones once the stock is done.  If you are low on energy just get legs if you want the meat or just bones if you want just broth.  If you want super cheap, save bones and cartilage from chicken dinners and freeze them or save a carcass after a roast chicken dinner.  When you have a few pounds of bones saved up then it is time to make stock.

The bones are cartilage are an essential part of the stock.  They impart nutrients that are vital for our cells to function properly.  WAP and GAPS recommends daily intake of bone broth from beef, chicken or fish to maintain good health.

Ingredients
makes roughly 7 cups give or take

1 package chicken backs (U.S. Wellness Meats: sorry they don't ship outside the US)
or 2.5lbs bone in chicken parts or one whole chicken carcass or several pounds of chicken bones
Filtered water
2 carrots whole or cut to fit in pan
1 yellow onion quatered
2-3 stalks of celery (it is okay to leave the leaves on) whole or cut to fit in pan
1t celtic sea salt
1t whole peppercorns
2 organic bay leaves
several sprigs of fresh thyme

1. Put everything in a dutch oven and cover with filtered water stopping at least an inch from the rim.  You don't have to defrost the chicken.  It can go in the pot frozen.  The chicken has to be covered with water but how much additional water you add is up to you.
2. Cover and put over a low light.
3. Once it starts simmering lower heat until it is barely bubbling.  Skim off any scum.
4. Cook for at least four hours.  Skimming when necessary.  Adding water if chicken is no longer covered.  I think I cooked mine around four to five hours.  The chicken will fall apart when lightly touched and can not be removed intact.
5. Remove from heat.  Skim off any scum.
6. Remove vegetables and discard.
7. Fish out chicken parts and separate out any meat and save for other uses.  Discard bones.
8. Be careful you can burn yourself easily on this step.  Carefully pour stock through a fine mesh sieve or line a colander with cheesecloth to remove all the other bits.  Discard bits.
9. Pour broth into containers and freeze for later use.

This can also be done in a slow cooker set on low.  Cook overnight for at least 12 hours.

Basic Beef Broth

This recipe is as old as the hills.  There are many many versions of it on the internet.  I'm going to include two here so that you can make whichever you like depending upon time, ingredients and of course energy level.

Basic broth has been considered a healing food for generations.  It is now strongly recommended both by WAP  (Weston A Price, see resources page) and GAPS (Gut and Psychology Syndrome: again see resources page) to heal the digestive tract and to keep us healthy.  On GAPS it is supposed to be taken daily as either a meal or a drink.  WAP recommends adding gelatin from cartilage or knuckles or even powdered unflavored gelatin packets.  And, by the way, the fat is supposed to be consumed not drained off.  According to both WAP and GAPS, animal fat from pastured animals is good for you and essential to normal digestive functioning.

Any basic stock consists of:

• Onion, celery and carrot
• Meat and/or bones and/or cartilage/knuckles
• Filtered water
• Celtic sea salt, peppercorns, herbs such as parsley and thyme

I made my first beef stock in my slow cooker and it is kick ass!  I did the super easy version; toss everything in and walk away.  There are several versions that recommend roasting the meat in the oven first to add a layer of flavor but heck the stuff I made is chock full of flavor.  Be sure to use organic ingredients and Celtic sea salt.  This reduces toxic load and adds helpful trace minerals to the stock.

Ingredients

Makes roughly 5 pints

2lbs 100% grass fed beef oxtails (make sure it hasn't been grained off*) with bones

3 large carrots

3 stalks celery

1/2 large onion

1t peppercorns

1 bunch fresh parsley

several sprigs fresh thyme

1t Celtic sea salt

1. Peel onion and cut into large chunks.
2. Cut nasty looking bits off celery and carrot and cut down to fit in slow cooker.  For mine this meant cutting in half.  The larger the bits the better.  Don't bother peeling.  Just rinse and cook.
3. Place meat in cooker.  Add everything else.
4. Cover ingredients with filtered water leaving at least and inch from the top edge of cooker.
5. Set on low, cover and walk away.
6. Several hours later come back and skim off any scum that has risen to the surface and discard.
7. Check again several hour later and skim again if necessary.
8. Cook a minimum of 8 hours preferably 12-24.  I think I cooked mine closer to 30.
9. Remove large pieces and discard.  Reserve meat and marrow if so inclined.
10. Run broth through a fine mesh sieve or through cheesecloth to remove pieces.
11. Fill clean storage containers with broth.  Let come to room temp and then freeze (this is the easiest storage method by far).  
12. Meat and marrow can be added back into broth as desired and can even be pureed first.
13. To reheat use stove top.  It is rumored that the microwave destroys the nutrients in the food but I haven't seen any science behind that claim.

To add a layer of flavor to the soup (I haven't done this yet so I can't make any claims that it makes it way better than it already is), roast the meat and vegetables in a 350F oven for about an hour until the meat is nicely browned.  You can deglaze the roasting pan with stock, water or red wine and add this to the slow cooker if desired.  Honestly the soup is fantastic as is so I'm not sure this step is worth the extra trouble.  Maybe if I were feeling better myself I would give it a go but honestly the broth is wonderful without this step.

*In the US, meat processors are allowed to call cattle that has spent up to one month eating a grain diet pastured if it was grass fed prior to the grains.  However, the body chemistry of the cows change in this short time and many of the benefits of pasturing are lost in the graining off of the cattle.  Make sure the beef you purchase is 100% grass fed and has NOT been grained off.

See U.S. Wellness Meats on the resource page for more information about the benefits of eating 100% grass fed beef.

Orange Cranberry Pork Roast

I am so happy I can finally post this recipe.  I have managed to tinker with it enough that it can be considered almost my own.  The original recipe is from one of my favorite cookbooks and I highly recommend it:  Make it Fast, Cook it Slow by Stephanie O'Dea. 

All variations of this has been gobbled up by my family.   It is supposed to feed four but between the three of us and the cat there isn't enough left for a fourth person.

It looks complicated but it is really easy to put together and of course it is a slow cooker recipe so you can go rest for at least three hours before having to get up to make some frozen veg for sides.

Ingredients:
serves 3-4

2-3lb pork loin roast
1t powdered ginger
2T cornstarch (preferably organic GMO free)
1/4t pepper
1-2T whole grain mustard
generous pinch Celtic sea salt
1c fresh or frozen cranberries
1/2c sucanat
1 clove crushed garlic or 1/4t of minced garlic out of a jar
1/3c orange juice
3-4 thin slices of fresh orange
2-3c coarsely diced sweet potato

1. Put the cornstarch, ginger and pepper in a gallon ziplock bag and mix thoroughly.
2. Grease slow cooker with some olive oil.
3. Rinse and pat dry pork roast.
4. Put roast in ziplock bag and shake around to coat all sides with cornstarch mixture.
5. Place roast in slow cooker fat side up.  Dump all extra cornstarch mixture into slow cooker with the roast.  This will act as thickener for the gravy that forms.
6. Paint mustard on top of roast with a knife.  Adjust amount to personal taste.
7. Put cranberries, juice, sugar, salt, garlic on either side of roast.
8. Lay orange slices along top of roast neatly.  This makes for a nice presentation later in addition to flavoring the roast itself.
9. Layer potatoes along each side of the roast.
10. Cook on high for 3-4 hours.
11. Remove roast and put it on serving platter.  Surround with potatoes and cranberries.
12. Scoop out sauce and put it in a gravy seperator and let sit for a few minutes.  Pour off into gravy boat leaving fat behind.  Put a few cranberries in for interest.
13. Serve with green beans or carrots.  YUM!!

If the roast hasn't been frozen by the supermarket it literally falls apart when cooked.  I've often removed it from the cooker in pieces.  This is hands down the best pork roast I've ever had.  Even my cat thinks so.

Chicken Cacciatore

I've adapted my old Cacciatore recipe for use in the slow cooker.  I've used this recipe for so long I forget where I got the original from.  You can stretch this recipe with a side salad and extra rice or pasta and some bread.  Of course it tastes even better the second day after all the flavors have time to meld together. 


Ingredients
serves 4-6

~2lbs of chicken pieces (legs or thighs preferably bone in)
26oz can Hunts Tomato Sauce Plain
1 small can tomato paste (I like Contadina.  It is less acidic.)
medium onion
1 small carton sliced mushrooms (I prefer criminis but buttons are fine)
1 small bag peeled baby carrots
1 small bag frozen peas
1-2T good olive oil
1T oregano dried
1t basil dried
1t thyme dried
1t parsley dried
1 large bay leaf
1-3 cloves garlic (to taste)
salt & pepper

1. Pour olive oil in slow cooker and grease the inside of the pot with it.
2. Coarsely chop onion.  Not too fine or it will disappear into the sauce.  Put in bottom of pot.
3. Layer in the carrots and mushrooms.
4. Skin chicken if necessary and cut off any extra fat. Layer on top of vegetables.
5. In bowl, mix together the Hunts sauce, paste and all the herbs and spices including the garlic.  Fill the Hunts tin half way with water, swish around to get all the good stuff out, add to bowl and stir in.
6. Pour sauce over chicken.
7. Cook on high for 3-4 hours depending upon chicken chunk sizes.
8. Half hour before finishing add peas and stir in.  Cook on high for last half hour.
9. Remove bay leaf.
10. Remove bones if you are so inclined.  Not necessary if there isn't company though.
11. Serve with pasta or over brown rice.
12. Leftovers taste great and can be frozen.

Black and White Chilli

I made a mild version of this since my tummy can't handle spices since I've been sick.  I've adapted the recipe from "Black and White Chicken Chili" in Cook's Country Lost Recipes.  Not sure if the edition on Amazon is the same as what I got in the mail.  Mine is in the style of a magazine and was a freebie when I got some cookbooks.

Anyway, this dish was a total hit in my house.  I had two bowls myself.  I just wish I had some GF cornbread to go with it.  That would have been perfect!  Instead we had it with Cheesy Bread.

Ingredients:
serve 4-6

1pkg of four bone in chicken thighs
1c diced frozen onion
1 1/2c frozen corn
1can (15.5oz) cannellini beans
1can (15.5oz) black beans
1c Pacific Foods organic chicken broth
1c water
1jar (16oz) salsa (mild, medium or spicy as you wish)
4 cloves garlic or equivalent from a jar or two cubes frozen
1 1/2t ground cumin
1 1/2r dried oregano
1t dried cilantro
salt and pepper

1. Skin chicken and remove excess fat
2. Spray slow cooker with no stick oil.
3. Place onion and frozen corn in bottom of slow cooker.
4. Rinse and drain both cans of beans and add to slow cooker
5. Place chicken on top
6. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, cumin, oregano and cilantro
7. Mix broth, water, salsa and garlic together in bowl and pour over chicken
8. Cook on high for 4 hours.
9. Remove chicken and remove meat from bone.  Return meat to pot.
10. Enjoy!

Note: if you use a regular broth like Swanson's use 2 cups and skip the water.  Pacific Foods broth is very concentrated so I usually cut it with water so it doesn't overpower the dish.

Pulled Chicken Sandwich

This is a super simple dinner to make.  You cook the chicken in a slow cooker for three hours and then do some minor assembly work.  The original recipe called for a half cup of vinegar but I found this to overpower the dish so in this version I've left it out.  If you like vinegar and want to counter balance the sweetness of the coleslaw by all means add it to the crock pot along with the BBQ sauce.  Since hubby doesn't like coleslaw I left it off his but he said that some pepperjack cheese would be a nice addition.  This can be served with green salad and french fries.


Ingredients
serves 4

1-2lbs bone in chicken thighs (4 pieces)
1/4c frozen onion diced
1 1/4c favorite BBQ sauce (I like Annie's original with sweet & spicy being my second favorite)
1t -1T hot sauce (optional:I left this out)
medium sized deli container of coleslaw (try to find stuff without HFCS)
Favorite GF hamburger buns

1. Strip skin off chicken and cut away extra fat.
2. Spray no stick in slow cooker and put onion in first and then layer chicken on top.
3. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper.
4. Mix BBQ sauce with hot sauce and pour over chicken.
5. Cook on high for three hours. 
6. Remove chicken pieces from sauce strip from bone and return to pot.
7. I get my GF buns frozen so this is the point where I defrost them in the microwave.
8. Put chicken on bun, add coleslaw on top.
9. Enjoy!

Options:

1. Top with pepperjack cheese instead of slaw
2. Make with pork instead of chicken

Cream of Chicken Soup

This is a crockpot recipe.  It makes a nice thick soup.  Serve with salad and Cheesy Bread.

When I made this I used Health Valley potato leak soup and Pacific Natural Foods Cream of Chicken and free range stock.

Ingredients:
serves 4

1 can potato leak soup (condensed or regular)
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1-2c chicken stock
1/2c wild rice or any Lundburg rice mix
1/4c chopped onion (fresh or frozen)
1-2c frozen sliced carrots (or fresh)
1/4t poultry seasoning (sage works as a good substitute)
1/4-1/2t minced garlic (from the jar is easiest)
pinch of pepper
1-2lbs bone in chicken thighs (take skin off)

1. Grease crockpot
2. layer in rice, onion and carrot
3. Place skinned thighs on top.
4. In a mixing bowl combine both cans of soup and the stock.  If both soups are condensed use 2c broth.  If one is condensed then only use 1c stock.  If neither are condensed skip stock.
5. Mix in garlic, poultry seasoning and pepper.
6. Combine thoroughly and pour over chicken.
7. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.
8. Before serving remove chicken and shred meat into bite sized pieces.  Discard bones and put meat back in soup. 
9. Adjust seasoning.  I found it needed some extra salt and pepper.

Slow Cooker Pork Roast

Here is an easy peasy pork roast recipe that you can throw together and then walk away from for 5 hours. Wish it were my creation but here is the link to the Gluten Free Goddess.